“I don’t know who you are, but you’re making a mistake.” Tyson said to the pirate. “This whole system is about to filled with Guard ships. There’s no way you can escape- so make it easier on yourself.”
The pirate grinned. She was pretty, but not Tysen’s type. There was an aura of selfishness to her- arrogance. “Thank you for your kindness, but I think I can manage.” She said casually, and then produced a black metal disk-shaped object Tysen instantly recognized. “See this detonator grenade? It’s armed and…” She slapped it into the side of the grav-sled. “…One thought from me and it goes off- killing every one of these nice people.” Then her tone became serious again. “Call your men off.”
“Esther?” Tysen sent, hoping.
“You will need another fifty seconds, Tysen.”
It was time he didn’t have.
The pirate tapped the pistol against the Admiral’s head. “Your men?”
* * *
Ping An was down to her last card- either he folded or she did, there was no other option.
Both she and the Noble stared at each other, neither side willing to turn away, until finally, at last- the officer flinched.
“Fine.” He said, and looked off into the distance for a moment.
All around the former park area, the sounds of explosions and weaponsfire faded away as the Imperial forces withdrew.
“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Ping An said, trying to keep up her cocky facade. Then she sent out a call to her troops to converge on her. “Now, back…” She began, then stopped as she became aware of another figure lurching its way toward her from the right.
Both she and Tysen turned to see the broken form of Squire Ashe standing, and staggering her way toward Ping An. Bleeding blue profusely, and one of her arms torn off, determined eyes of violet hatred stared at the pirate.
“My master…” The apparition rasped. “Will not lose…To you!”
Then the Squire lunged at her, her single hand striking out at Ping An’s throat like a snake…
Barely in time, Ping An brought her pistol around just as the woman was almost on her and fired. The plasma packets driving the Squire back as they exploded against her chest.
As the Squire’s body was being hurled backwards, Ping An became aware of a flash of blue light beside her, and started to bring her gun around. But, just as she did, there was a streak of white, and searing pain shot from her right arm as both the gun and her forearm were suddenly cleaved off.
Then she felt her legs knocked out from under her and the world spun as she was flipped around and slammed into the ground. As she fought to re-orient herself, the Noble appeared over her, his shock sabre raised to strike her chest. It would go through her, and then it would be over.
Her plans. Her dreams. Her hopes.
All of it.
Then she saw him hesitate, it was just a brief pause, a fraction of a second.
But it was enough.
She told the detonator grenade next to them what to do.
And it did.
* * *
Tysen saw the pirate’s eyes go from fear and shock to determination, and he knew he’d made a mistake in holding back, but by then the world went white as the explosives she’d planted on the grav sled went off.
* * *
Ping An’s first awareness was a feeling of motion.
Where?
When she opened her eye, the ceiling was moving.
No, not just the ceiling. The floor was shaking under her.
Turning her head, she found she was laying on the floor in the back of one of the grav-transports her people had commandeered. It was racing at high speed through the asteroid tunnels. Around her, exhausted and wounded pirate crewmen leaned moaning against the sideboards.
“She’s awake”, she heard someone say, and then Captain Andrew’s worried face appeared above her.
“Ping An, can you understand me?”
She tried to speak, but all that came out was noise. Her vocal cords must still be repairing themselves. Switching to a neural link, Ping An responded. “Yes.”
Andrews nodded, the concern draining from his face. “Good. Good. You just rest. We’ll get you back to the hanger.”
“How did I get here?”
“We found you after we heard the explosion,” Andrews explained. “You’ve lost half your face, both arms, and your body is covered with severe plasma burns. If your body wasn’t so artificial, you’d be dead.”
“The VIPs?”
“We just grabbed you and got out of there as fast as we could,” Andrews shook his head. “We checked a few of the more intact ones, but there was nothing to bring.”
Ping An let that sink in, then asked. “Was there a Noble near me?”
Andrews frowned. “No, I didn’t see one. Why?”
“Just wondering.”
Maybe the bastard had died in the explosion. Ping An thought.
She hoped it was true.
* * *
Before Esther saw the returning soldiers, she felt them.
Waves of anger, despair and grief washed ahead of them like a wave, and she had to shield herself against their emotions or risk being overwhelmed. As she stood in the tunnel watching, waiting, she saw the haggard figures wrapped in blue come gliding back down the corridor.
Esther had been trying to reach Tysen since the explosion, but there had been no response. She had contacted other crewmen, and knew that he had survived the explosion, but for some reason he had refused her link requests.
She approached the worn out looking woman in the lead. “Ensign Tran,” Esther said, keeping her eyes on the grav-sleds that some of the crew were pushing, and the bodies on them. “Where is the Captain?”
The crew-woman hesitated, and fear surged in Esther, but then she heard a voice say. “I’m here. Esther.”
From the tunnel behind the retreating soldiers, a shimmering blue figure appeared, slipping past them to land in front of Esther and deactivate his array. His smartsuit was torn and charred, exposing pink and red flesh, and one arm hung at an odd angle, but he seemed functional.
“Keep moving, Ensign.” He ordered the crewman, and looked at Esther. “You didn’t need to come.”
“I could not reach you.” She put a hand up and gently brushed her fingers against the charred skin on his face.
He looked away. “My neural link was damaged in the explosion.”
She knew it was a lie, but let it pass. While he outwardly appeared to be calm and tired, she could feel a deep sense of shame and anger from him.
“You did what you could,” she told him. “It is not your fault.”
“But, it is my fault, Esther. They would be alive I hadn’t…” He looked to watch the last of the grav-sleds hum by. “Tell Kip I need the ship ready to fight. From what you told me, their ships are gone, and they’re going to need to get past us to escape. When they do, we’ve got them.
“We’re not going to let these butchers get away.”
* * *
Sitting in the cockpit of Ping An’s assault shuttle, Lady Whitcombe was quietly writing in her journal when she suddenly became aware of the craft around her powering up. Checking for AR objects, she found one and added it to her field of vision.
Sure enough, an image of Ping An appeared in the shuttle command chair, going through pre-flight preparations.
“Well, the prodigal daughter has returned.” Commented Whitcombe, looking her over from the co-pilot’s seat. “Where is your real self?”
“They’re loading me into the back now,” Ping An said without looking at her. “I had a bit of an accident.”
Whitecombe raised an eyebrow. “Really? Did you manage to secure the dignitaries?”
The pirate captain was silent a moment, and then spoke with a dark finality, “No.”
The Lady clucked at that. “Well, that is most disappointing.” Then she nodded to herself. “Oh well, perhaps it’s for the best. They were always more trouble than they were worth.”
“Strap in, we need to take off.”
* * *
“We’re coming around, Captain.” Helgi reported. “There’s the main hanger there on the right.” The main display magnified to show the open hanger just as the first of the shuttles shot from it into space. “Ahh. They’re launching!”
“Move to intercept, Ensign.” Tysen ordered, not taking his eyes off the display. “We can’t let them escape into the asteroid field.”
“Doing my best, sir!”
Tysen looked over at his first officer, who was at a nearby control consoles. “Kip, can you disable them? I want them alive so we can find out how they knew to come here.”
“I can give it a good try,” he said with a grin. “Haven’t done this in a while, but I’d like to think I haven’t lost the touch. Bring us in closer, Helgi.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Almost at the right range…don’t want to use too strong a power setting, eh?”
Tysen watched the screen, growing anxious as the shuttles seemed to be getting ahead of them. He wasn’t going to lose them, not after what they’d done. He was going to make them pay. “They’re making a break for it, Kip.” He said with agitation. If they got much farther, he’d order Kip to destroy the lead.
“Relax Al,” Kip soothed. “I…Holy Crap! What the hell?!?!” Kip’s eyes went wide, and he transfered an image to the main screen.
From the shadow of the large asteroid the shuttles were heading for, a long sleek dark shape slid into view. It was nearly as big as the asteroid it had been behind, and bristled with weaponry.
“Sir! It’s…It’s…” Helgi gasped.
“An Imperial Heavy Cruiser.” Tysen finished, frowning.
“Where did that thing come from?!?!”
Tysen ignored Kip. The Cruiser had no identification number or code- what did that mean? Was is a special forces ship like the Silverthorne? Should they try to get it to assist them? But, once they started to interact, what hope would there be of escape?
Tysen stared at it. He wanted to order Kip to open fire on the shuttles, to destroy them, but how many more oh his people’s lives would be sacrificed today if he took his revenge and the ship attacked them?
He cursed.
“Helgi, forget the shuttles. Get us out of here.”
* * *
The doors to the ship’s bridge slid open, and Captain Andrews escorted Ping An out onto the rectangular control dais. It was the highest of the three levels that made up the bridge of the heavy cruiser, and allowed the Captain to overlook all the activity on the bridge stations below. Beyond the railing that surrounded the dais, Ping An could see a panoramic view of space and the asteroid cluster around the ship.
“Ping An?!?” Cried Betsey, who’d been leaning against the dias railing. Her Captain looked more like a walking corpse than anything human, with a blanket draped over her shoulders to hide her missing arms and half of her face and head covered in regenerative foam. Still, there was enough for Betsey to recognize and the worried Morphic woman rushed to greet her, “Ping An? Are you…?”
Ping An shook her head to tell her helmsman not to worry. “A casualty of war. I’ll be fine. I see Tomlin found you okay.”
“Welcome aboard the Othello, Captain Zhang.” Said a pleasant, young-sounding male voice from the air around them.
“Tomlin, I told you to call me Ping An.” She corrected.
“Yes, mistress.” Answered the Squire.
“Ping An,” Betsey asked, looking around. “Where’s Vaela? Isn’t she…”
Ping An shook her head. “She didn’t make it back.”
“Leederman?” Ping An asked.
Betsey’s eyes dropped, and Ping An saw her shake visibly. “The explosion…”
“Yeah, okay. I get it.” Ping An said huskily, and walked past her friend to the front of the dais. The levels below were empty- Tomlin had been piloting the ship alone, but still it was an impressive sight.
It was the ship she’d gone into the core worlds to get, and which she’d bought from Lady Whitcombe as part of their bargain. A ship she’d sent ahead to wait for her here for when it was needed.
And now was the time.
“Tomlin- what about that Cutter that was chasing us?”
“It has fled, Ping An. Into the cluster. I chose not to fire on it for fear of harming the shuttles.”
Ping An considered a moment, then decided to let it go. It hadn’t fired on them, and Vaela may be aboard it if she was captured.
“Fine, ignore it. Set course for the edge of the field,” she ordered. “We have an appointment to keep.”
* * *
Volkstag was in a virtual Linkspace conference with the other captains when the notification came. A small window opened up near him with his first officer’s face on it.
“My lord Volkstag,” he said, worry on his face. “There’s a ship leaving the asteroids. But, it’s an Imperial Heavy Cruiser! What are your orders?”
“Really?” Volkstag said with interest, and motioned to attract the attention of the other squadron leaders. “My dear Captains, it seems we have a visitor. Let’s have a look at them, shall we?”
They all turned as the small conference room walls dissolved and was replaced by the space around their fleet. They were standing like giants in the void above the ships, and before them sat the asteroid cluster. Moving from it, a single large smooth-hulled Imperial ship, its hull a patterned mixture of black and white, cruised from the field. While the colors were unusual, Volkstag knew many Guard commanders had their ships customized in similar ways.
“It is alone?” He asked the bridge officer, following that line of thinking.
“It is, my lord.” The man confirmed.
“What is it doing here?” Asked Bella, who was standing to his right.
He glanced at her. “Hail them and find out.”
“Of course,” Bella started, then made a surprised noise. “Sir, they’re hailing us! We have a link request to join this conference!”
“What?” Volkstag’s eyebrows went up, then he nodded. “Most interesting. Put them through.”
It was done, and a moment later in the virtual space above the ship Ping An appeared. Her avatar wore her usual red and purple smartsuit, and she greeted the assembled leaders with a confident grin.
“Hello, My Lord. Squadron Commanders.”
“Ping An?” Volkstag said, surprised. “What are you doing aboard that ship?”
“Like it?” She smiled. “It’s the latest model. I got it when I went to the capitol.”
“I must say,” the clan lord said admiringly. “You have brought back many treasures for the clan.” Then an unkind smile crept onto his face. “So, will you be surrendering like a good girl? Or will we be forced to disable that beautiful ship of yours?”
“Do surrender Ping An,” Bella purred. “I’ve so been looking forward to seeing you again.”
But their opponent just shrugged casually. “I’m sorry my lord, but I’m afraid there’s not much point in my surrendering it to a dead man.”
“My lord, with your permission?” Asked Bella, her bloodlust rising. Several of the other squadron leaders also called out similar requests to let them attack, but Volkstag silenced them with a raised hand.
“Ping An?” He said in a cordial tone. “Have I not been like an uncle to you? Why these unkind words?”
“It’s simple,” she answered. “Because any minute now a Home Guard fleet is due to drop into this system. When they do, you’re going to have two choices- surrender or die. It’s up to you, but either way you’re not coming back anytime soon.”
Then Ping An’s lips curled into an evil smile. “Now, I know what you’re thinking- you’ll just run right? Well, I’m afraid that navigation data I gave Dragonov -and yes, I was counting on him leading you here, had a virus in it that disables your jump systems. And,” She said in mock surprise. “Oh look! I’ve just activated it. Guess you better get ready to fight.”
>
Volkstag stared at the woman in disbelief. “Ping An…you…” Was all he could utter.
“You know what your problem is, Volkstag?” She continued. “You’re a coward. The Empire is falling apart, and all you can do is nibble at the little crumbs that fall your way. Well, it’s time for new leadership- mine. Did you know our clan alone is almost a tenth the size of the whole imperial fleet? A tenth! And there are over fifty pirate clans out there just like us. That means we outnumber the imperial Guard five to one! Now is our chance to act, but what do you do? You sit there and count your money where it’s safe.
“Well the universe isn’t safe, and neither is our clan as long as we just sit there and do nothing. How long before one of the other pirate clans starts building alliances and takes over? A week? A month? A year? And what are we going to do when that happens?”
“W-well…I…”
Ping An shook her head in disgust. “That’s what I thought. If our clan is going to have any chance, it’s going to be by expanding and growing. We need to be the one making the alliances. We need to be the one setting the pace.”
“Zhang!” Charged Bella. “What gives you the right?”
“I do.” Ping An put her hand on her chest, then made a gesture at the ship below. “And this ship. I went into the core-worlds and I bargained for this ship because I knew for us to have any chance we needed a ship that could navigate in hyperspace. I found out the secret of imperial navigation systems, and I put it to good use. Once I had that, all I had to do was find a way to bring all of my enemies into one place. The rest was ridiculously easy- this has been a trap from the start, and you fell for it.”
“But the clan!” Volkstag protested, having finally found his tongue. “They won’t follow you!”
Ping An just laughed. “Of course they will! Thanks to you, my lord, and your constant need to control everything and everyone- they’re all willing sheep. All I have to do is show that I have the strength to bring them together and they’ll follow me just like they did you.”
“T-the Council of Captains! Anaba! Argus!”
Ping An just gave him a pitiable look. “Who do you think is backing me? The weak look to the strong, and I’m it.” Then Ping An stopped, and pointed up to the right. “Oh look. They’re here.”
Twin Stars 1: Ascension Page 29